Brad King: Preservation can reinvent community

After three decades of losing manufacturing jobs, a housing crash, a staggering recession and a slow recovery, Rust Belt cities such as Muncie are being forced to reinvent their identities. What sets Muncie apart is that it has all the ripe resources for a successful reinvention.

The common Rust Belt traits have created more than 4,000 abandoned and blighted properties in Muncie with some of them unfortunately being within historic neighborhoods and districts. Over the past five years the city has tried several federally funded initiatives, but lacked an overall residential redevelopment plan.

While we have a solid economic development team and a redevelopment commission, we have yet to see a residential redevelopment plan including historic preservation. This isn't because individuals involved aren't interested or are incapable, but perhaps don't have the public support. In fact, historic preservation has a bad reputation in general that may derive from a disconnect regarding how historic preservation can be a catalyst for growth.

A common argument against historic preservation comes from using tax credits to incentivize projects. A study by Rutgers University showed that tax revenues from rehabilitations exceeded the amount of tax credits allocated for such projects from 2009 to 2010. Overall, it showed that the federal tax credit program has contributed nearly $4 billion to the nation's gross domestic product.

Sustainable economic development comes, in part, from job growth. Manufacturing, whether it is automobiles, appliances, or electronics can be, as we've witnessed, relocated to cheaper labor markets. Historic preservation cannot.

Labor for preservation projects is tied directly to the surrounding area and accounts for more than half the costs involved. These aren't unskilled, entry level jobs either. Preservation projects performed properly require skilled tradesmen such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, etc.

Those reasons contribute to historic preservation being a sound policy for economic revitalization. Fortunately, Muncie doesn't have to look far to see those effects. Downtown Muncie is a great, local example of how historic preservation - via the fašade restoration projects - can motivate stabilization.

The housing crash has shown the former model of suburban sprawl, housing people farther away from downtowns, is unsustainable growth. Cities such as Nashville, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio, have seen a renewed interest with residents wanting to live downtown.

This movement from suburbia to urban centers has caused a demand in residential redevelopment that includes historic preservation.

Without a proper plan city planners can quickly find themselves outpaced. Real estate sales in the downtown neighborhoods could indicate that same movement is blooming for Muncie.

Part of reinventing a community isn't just improving the quality of life within the community but how we choose to improve it.

The creation of good, public, green spaces goes a long way toward that improvement. Muncie has many public parks and in the last year-and-a-half has implemented recreation programs in them. As I've written before, the local trails are a great example of repurposing resources and helping to reinvent a community's identity. The downtown is yet another great resource in recreating ourselves.

Just as rebranding downtown as a business and event destination has been the efforts of Downtown Development, neighborhood associations have also stepped up to rebrand their areas as residential destinations.

Historic preservation can reaffirm Muncie's identity that was once built on industry and location. The architecture of the area is a perfect example of that identity. It showcases not only construction technology and economic development trends but also cultural movements.

How Muncie constructs its identity matters, especially when combating a shrinking population. The identity isn't just a matter of the community as a whole but also how the residents identify themselves. When we identify with a city, we want to live there; we want to commit to it; we want to claim it as our home.

Historic preservation can add a level of attractiveness that enhances our identity, draws residents, and provides for good economic growth.

Brad King is an archaeologist, community advocate and president of the Old West End Neighborhood Association.

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Brad King: Preservation can reinvent community

After three decades of losing manufacturing jobs, a housing crash, a staggering recession and a slow recovery, Rust Belt cities such as Muncie are being forced to reinvent their identities.